World Day for the End of Fishing

24 Mar 2017

The World Day for the End of Fishing is this weekend. This international campaign is an opportunity to bring awareness to the plight of the trillions of aquatic animals who are victims of the fishing industry every year.

The campaign is part of "Another Perspective on Fishes" which is supported by over 40 organisations around the world. The campaign is being marked by events in Europe, Canada, Israel and other countries and includes conferences, exhibitions, marches and street outreach.

Join the campaign on Sunday in Melbourne! As part of this international day, in Australia the March for Aquatic Animals will be held on Sunday 26 March 2017 in Melbourne. Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation, will be speaking at this event as well as marching. Find out more event details here.

The following short video gives an overview of why we must work to end the exploitation of aquatic animals in fisheries and aquaculture farms.

Fishes and other aquatic animals look very different to other animals and behave in unfamiliar ways and their lives are hidden from view. Yet they are sensitive, curious and insightful animals who feel pain just like mammals. Many people are unaware of this and so this campaign will help educate people and bring awareness to the view that killing animals, including fishes, for human consumption cannot be justified.

Aquatic animals constitute almost all (97%) of animal victims killed for food. Many are used to feed other farmed animals. They are not protected in any way.

The organisers of this campaign say "Our goal is to ensure that animal rights and environmental movements, as well as the population as a whole, finally take the fate of fish seriously, not only from the perspective of the ecological disaster in progress, but also from the point of view of what they are experiencing (and how they die) as sentient beings suffering from exploitation. This way, we hope to be able to significantly contribute to our common goal in the medium to long term: the abolition of fishing and breeding. It seems likely that if the public begins to realize the horror experienced by these myriads of individuals, it will focus more energy in requesting and then enforcing the termination of the marine Holocaust and exploitation of the oceans."

Please make yourself aware of this important issue, educate others, and participate in the World Day for the End of Fishing. If we do not become their voice, who will hear them?